Discipline Balance Policy

Detail Forms: Occurrence Weight

The Discipline Balance Policy is used to configure your Discipline Balance settings. Discipline Balances are used to manage a person’s attendance infractions when a number of these infractions occur in a specific time period. For example, a person can earn a point for having two Unexcused Absences in 30 days. Disciplinary levels and tickets can also be issued based on these points.

The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service uses the rulesets and settings in a person’s Discipline Balance Policy to update a person’s discipline balances. The Discipline Balance Policy determines whether the person will have separate discipline balances that accumulate points and tickets for different attendance infractions, or a single discipline balance that accumulates points for multiple types of attendance infractions. The Discipline Balance Policy also determines the “weight” of an occurrence. For example, an Early Departure with a 2.0-hour duration may count as 0.5 occurrence and the same event with a duration of 4.0 hours may count as 1.0 or more occurrences.

In order to configure your Discipline Balance Policy, you must first define your Discipline Balance Codes and Discipline Balance Rulesets. Each Discipline Balance Code is configured separately in the Discipline Balance Policy with its own rulesets.

Discipline Balances are included as part of a person’s Leave Policy, although the Discipline Balance Policy is configured in a separate form. The Discipline Balance Policy and the Balance Policy have the same name. The Policy Name field in both forms will display the same options. If you create the Policy Name on the Discipline Balance Policy form, you can select this same Policy Name on the Leave Policy form and vice versa. However, on the Leave Policy form you will be configuring Leave Type Codes instead of Discipline Balance Codes. Both policies are assigned to persons via the Balance Policy setting.

See Also:

Discipline Balance Policy Field Descriptions

Find the Discipline Balance Codes in a Discipline Balance Policy

Add, Modify, Delete, or Copy a Discipline Balance Policy Name

Add a Discipline Balance Code to a Discipline Balance Policy

Modify a Discipline Balance Code's Settings in a Discipline Balance Policy

Copy a Discipline Balance Code in a Discipline Balance Policy

Delete a Discipline Balance Code from a Discipline Balance Policy

How Multi-day Occurrences Are Determined

 

Discipline Balance Policy Field Descriptions

Policy Name

Click the  button next to the Policy Name field to find, add, modify, copy, or delete a Policy Name for your Discipline Balance Policy. See Add, Modify, Delete, or Copy a Discipline Balance Policy Name.

When you select a Policy Name, the Discipline Balance Codes in the policy, if any, will display in the middle of the form.

Note: The Discipline Balance Policy and the Leave Policy have the same name but are configured in separate forms. The Policy Name field in both forms will display the same values. If you create the Policy Name on the Discipline Balance Policy form, you can select this same Policy Name on the Balance Policy form. However, on the Balance Policy form you will be configuring Leave Type Codes instead of Discipline Balance Codes. Both policies are assigned to persons via the Leave Policy setting.

Discipline Balance Code

Your Discipline Balance Policy will contain one or more Discipline Balance Codes. These codes are defined on the Discipline Balance Code tab of the Leave Type Code form. Each Discipline Balance Code is configured on the Discipline Balance Policy with its own rulesets.

For example, you may define a Discipline Balance Code called Hourly_Disc_Bal for which an hourly punch employee will accumulate points based on the number of absences, tardies, and early departures he has in a specific time period. Or you may have a Discipline Balance Code called ABSENT and a Discipline Balance Code called TARDY which will accumulate points separately based on the number of absences and late arrivals that a person has.

The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will use the Discipline Balance Code’s settings in the Discipline Balance Policy to accumulate points, reduce the balance, and change the level of the discipline balance.

Discipline Ruleset

The Discipline Ruleset will be processed by the BALANCE_ACCUMULATION task of the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service. The BALANCE_ACCUMULATION task looks at the person’s timecard to find any violations (e.g., unexcused absences or late arrivals) and adds the appropriate number of points to the Discipline Balance Code.

Available options are the Discipline Balance Rulesets defined on the Rulesets form. Make sure you select the ruleset that will be processed by the BALANCE_ACCUMULATION task (i.e., a ruleset that finds the violations in the person’s timecard and adds the appropriate number of points to the Discipline Balance Code).

Level Ruleset Name

The Level Ruleset will be processed by the BALANCE_LEVELS task of the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service. The BALANCE_LEVELS task looks at the amount of points in a person’s Discipline Balance and determines what level, if any, to assign it.

Available options are the Discipline Balance Rulesets defined on the Rulesets form. Make sure you select the ruleset that will be processed by the BALANCE_LEVELS task (i.e., a ruleset that looks at the amount of points in a person’s Discipline Balance and determines what level, if any, to assign it).

Reduction Ruleset

The Reduction Ruleset will be processed by the BALANCE_REDUCTION task of the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service. The BALANCE_REDUCTION task examines a person’s Discipline Balance history to determine if the balance can be reduced.

Available options are the Discipline Balance Rulesets defined on the Rulesets form. Make sure you select the ruleset that will be processed by the BALANCE_REDUCTION task (i.e., a ruleset that examines a person’s Discipline Balance history to determine if the balance can be reduced).

Multi Day Occurrence

A multi-day occurrence considers multiple consecutive postings of the same event as one occurrence.

Note: If your Discipline Balance Code includes events with different Occurrence Weights, you may also configure the Multi-day Occurrence setting differently for these events. The Multi-day Occurrence setting in the Occurrence Weight record will override the Multi-day Occurrence setting in the Discipline Balance Policy.

The Multi-day Occurrence setting determines whether the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will look at all days or only scheduled days to find consecutive postings of an event.

Never: Select this option if you are not using multi-day occurrences. Each posting of the event will be a single occurrence.

Scheduled Days Only: Select this option if you only want to include scheduled days when determining an occurrence.

All Days: Select this option if you want to consider all days when determining an occurrence.

See How Multi-day Occurrences Are Determined for an example.

If Multi-day Occurrence is set to Scheduled Days Only or All Days, you will also need to define the Event, Event Type, and/or Event Group that will be considered part of an occurrence. These settings are explained below.

Run Indicator

Determines how the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will process the rulesets.

Each Post Date: The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will process the rulesets once per person per day since the last time the service ran (indicated by the Last Accum. Date and Last Reduction Date in the person’s Discipline Balance record), up to the date determined by the END_POST_DATE_OFFSET parameter. For example: A person’s Last Accum. Date and Last Reduction Date are March 18 and the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service’s END_POST_DATE_OFFSET parameter is -1. The Run Indicator in the person’s Discipline Balance Policy is Each Post Date. When the service runs on March 26, it processes records for this person from March 18 to March 25.

Run Date: The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will process the rulesets once per person based on the day the service runs, regardless of the last time it ran. The service uses the END_POST_DATE_OFFSET parameter to determine which date to process. For example, if today is March 25, the END_POST_DATE_OFFSET parameter is -7, and the Run Indicator is Run Date, the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will only process March 18.

Note that if you select Run Date as your Run Indicator, the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service may not be able to reprocess timecard adjustments that affect a person’s discipline balance. For example, a supervisor removes an absence event on March 18 from a person’s timecard. This adjustment changes the Last Accum. Date and Last Reduction Date in the person’s Discipline Balance record to March 17. The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service has an END_POST_DATE_OFFSET parameter of -1. The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service runs on March 25. If the person’s Discipline Balance Policy has the Run Indicator set to Run Date, the service only processes records from yesterday (March 24) as determined by the END_POST_DATE_OFFSET. If the person’s Discipline Balance Policy had the Run Indicator set to Each Post Date, the service processes records from March 17 to March 24, and it can reduce the person’s discipline balance due to the timecard adjustment. See How the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE Service Works for more information.

Transaction, Ticket, and Level Comment

These settings indicate whether comments are required or optional when you add or deactivate a discipline balance transaction, ticket, or level on the Discipline Balance tab of the Employee form.

Transaction Comment indicates whether comments are required when you add or deactivate a discipline balance transaction.

Ticket Comment indicates whether comments are required when you add or deactivate a ticket.

Level Comment indicates whether comments are required when you add or deactivate a discipline balance level.

For each of the above settings, you can choose Disabled, Enabled Optional, or Enabled Required.

Disabled: The user cannot enter a comment.

Enabled Optional: The user can enter a comment but it is not required.

Enabled Required: The user must enter a comment to save the change.

Event, Event Type, Event Group

If Multi Day Occurrence is set to Scheduled Days Only or All Days, you need to use the Event, Event Type, and/or Event Group fields to define which events can be considered part of the multi-day occurrence. You must select a value from at least one of these fields in order to define the multi-day occurrence.

Use the Event field to select an event name. The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will look for multi-day occurrences of this specific event only.

Use the Event Type field to select an event type (ATTENDANCE:NO_SHOW, ATTENDANCE:LATE_ARRIVAL, etc.). The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will look for multi-day occurrences of this event type only.

Use the Event Group field to select an Event Group. The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will look for multi-day occurrences of events in this group only.

 

Find the Discipline Balance Codes in a Discipline Balance Policy

  1. Click Main Menu > Configuration > Policies > Discipline Balance.

  2. Select a Policy Name from the drop-down list.

    You can also click the  button next to the Policy Name field and select Lookup from the drop-down menu. Select the Policy Name from the Balance Policy pop-up form.

  3. Click Find.

    The Discipline Balance Codes in this policy, if any, will appear in the grid.

 

Add, Modify, Delete, or Copy a Discipline Balance Policy Name

Click Main Menu > Configuration > Policies > Discipline Balance to open the Discipline Balance Policy form.

To add a new Discipline Balance Policy, click the button next to the Policy Name field and select Add from the pop-up menu. Enter the Policy Name and Description and click Save.

You can modify the Description of the Discipline Balance Policy Name. To do so, click the button next to the Policy Name field and select Maintain from the pop-up menu. On the Balance Policy pop-up form, select the policy and click Modify. Change the Description and click Save.

You can copy a Discipline Balance Policy Name and save the duplicate with a new name. To do so, click the button next to the Policy Name field and select Maintain from the pop-up menu. On the Balance Policy pop-up form, select the policy and click Copy. Change the Policy Name and Description and click Save.

You can delete a Discipline Balance Policy Name if it is not assigned to anyone. To do so, click the button next to the Policy Name field and select Maintain from the pop-up menu. On the Balance Policy pop-up form, select the policy and click Delete.

 

Add a Discipline Balance Code to a Discipline Balance Policy

Discipline Balance Codes are maintained in Discipline Balance Code tab of Leave Type Code form.

  1. Click Main Menu > Configuration > Policies > Discipline Balance.

  2. Select a Policy Name from the drop-down list. Available options have been defined on the Balance Policy form or the Discipline Balance Policy form.

    The Discipline Balance Policy and the Balance Policy have the same Policy Name but are configured in separate forms. The Policy Name field in both forms will display the same options. If you create the Policy Name on the Discipline Balance Policy form, you can select this same Policy Name on the Balance Policy form and vice versa. However, on the Balance Policy form you will be configuring Leave Type Codes instead of Discipline Balance Codes. Both policies are assigned to persons via the Balance Policy setting.

    You can also use the  button next to the Policy Name field to Add or Lookup a Policy Name.

    Once you have selected the Policy Name, the Discipline Balance Codes in this policy, if any, appear in the grid.

  3. Click Add.

    The Add Discipline Balance Policy form opens.

  4. Select the Discipline Balance Code you want to include in your policy. These codes are maintained on the Discipline Balance Code tab  of the Leave Type Code form.

  5. Select the Discipline Ruleset, Level Ruleset, and Reduction Ruleset that the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will use to add points to the Discipline Balance Code, assign a level to it, and reduce its balance.

  6. Use the remaining fields to further configure your Discipline Balance Code. Refer to the Discipline Balance Policy Field Descriptions for more information.

  7. When you are done, click Save and Add if you want to save these settings and add another Discipline Balance Code to the Discipline Balance Policy. Or click Save to save these settings and return to the main form.

  8. If you want to configure any of the attendance infractions in the discipline balance to have partial occurrences or to use a different Multi-Day Occurrence setting than the one in the Discipline Balance Policy, use the Occurrence Weight tab to create these settings.

 

Modify a Discipline Balance Code’s Settings in a Discipline Balance Policy

  1. Click Main Menu > Configuration > Policies > Discipline Balance.

  2. Select a Policy Name from the drop-down list.

    You can also click the  button next to the Policy Name field and select Lookup from the drop-down menu. Select the Policy Name from the Balance Policy pop-up form.

    The Discipline Balance Codes in this policy appear in the grid.

  3. Select the Discipline Balance Code you want to change and click Modify.

    The Modify Discipline Balance Policy form opens.

  4. Select the Discipline Ruleset, Level Ruleset, and Reduction Ruleset that the DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service will use to add points to the Discipline Balance Code, assign a level to it, and reduce its balance.

  5. Use the remaining fields to further configure your Discipline Balance Code. Refer to the Discipline Balance Policy Field Descriptions for more information.

  6. When you finish modifying the Discipline Balance Code, click Save.

 

Copy a Discipline Balance Code in a Discipline Balance Policy

Use the Copy button to add a Discipline Balance Code with the same settings as an existing Discipline Balance Code to the Discipline Balance Policy.

  1. Click Main Menu > Configuration > Policies > Discipline Balance.

  2. Select a Policy Name from the drop-down list.

    You can also click the  button next to the Policy Name field and select Lookup from the drop-down menu. Select the Policy Name from the Balance Policy pop-up form.

    The Discipline Balance Codes in this policy appear in the grid.

  3. Select the Discipline Balance Code you want to duplicate and click Copy.

    The Copy Discipline Balance Policy form opens.

  4. Select the Discipline Balance Code you want to add to this policy.

  5. Use the remaining fields to further configure your Discipline Balance Code. Refer to the Discipline Balance Policy Field Descriptions for more information.

  6. If you want to add another Discipline Balance Code with these settings to the Discipline Balance Policy, click Save and Add to save your settings and keep the Copy Discipline Balance Policy window open. Or click Save to save your settings and return to the main form.

 

Delete a Discipline Balance Code from a Discipline Balance Policy

  1. Click Main Menu > Configuration > Policies > Discipline Balance.

  2. Select a Policy Name from the drop-down list.

    You can also click the  button next to the Policy Name field and select Lookup from the drop-down menu. Select the Policy Name from the Balance Policy pop-up form.

    The Discipline Balance Codes in this policy appear in the grid.

  3. Select the Discipline Balance Codes you want to delete. To select more than one record, press the CTRL key as you select them.

  4. Click Delete.

  5. Click OK to confirm.

 

How Multi-day Occurrences Are Determined

The following example illustrates how the Multi-day Occurrence settings in a Discipline Balance Policy will affect the number of occurrences that are found.

A person is scheduled to work Monday through Friday with Saturday and Sunday off. The person has Late Arrivals on the dates shown below.

Company policy states that if the person is late to work one day, no points are earned. However, if the person is late again within 7 days, a point is earned.

The DISCIPLINE_BALANCE service runs on Oct. 26 and finds the Late Arrival event. The service then looks back at the previous 7 days to find other occurrences of the Late Arrival event. The number of previous occurrences the rule will find depends on the Multi-day Occurrence setting in the person’s Discipline Balance Policy.

If Multi-day Occurrence is set to All Days, then 2 previous occurrences are found. Friday and Monday are not consecutive days and count as 2 separate occurrences.

If Multi-day Occurrence is set to Scheduled Days Only, then 1 previous occurrence is found. Friday and Monday are viewed as consecutive scheduled days and count as 1 occurrence.

If Multi-day Occurrence is set to Never, then Friday and Monday count as two separate occurrences.